Letters to the Editor

Published 7:00 am, Monday, June 22, 2015

Do good in this world

Dear Editor:

In life, there are essentially two speeches you can give to kids:

1) Because of who you are, you will face challenges in life that aren’t fair. You will have to work harder than some of your peers, and sometimes only get half the credit, but don’t use that struggle as an excuse, use it as motivation. Be somebody. Do some good in this world.

2) Because of who you are, you will face opportunity that not everyone will get. You may not have to work hard at first, but don’t use that as an excuse to be complacent. Always do your best anyway. Be somebody. Do some good in this world.

If everyone internalized this, made it a reality, then in a generation or two the only lines from this speech we would all need to repeat would be, “Be somebody. Do some good in this world.”

Javier L. Benton

Kingwood

Disingenuous POTUS!

Dear Editor:

Regarding the senseless murders in South Carolina this past week, President Obama took the event to again push his gun control agenda and make political points during this campaign season. While he admitted that all the facts were not known, he clearly implied that ever more gun control was needed because Dylann Roof was easily able to get a firearm into his hands. It certainly was easy because the firearm used was a gift to him by his father as a birthday present that was legally purchased in compliance with the many existing gun laws. That clearly & logically shifts the blame from the gun itself and the accessibility of firearms to the owners of firearms responsibility to secure same. Alan Lanza, the Sandy Hook killer, took his mother’s legally purchased firearm and used that in his insane slaughter of those many children.

Those of us who own legally purchased firearms have a very serious responsibility to assure that our guns are not accessible to those who may — repeat, may — use them for evil purposes. That said, a fine line has to be legislatively drawn to allow for quick and easy access to our firearms for self-defense in an emergency. Therein lies the dilemma facing our lawmakers. Radical anti-firearms activists and even too many lawmakers clamor for eradication of all guns in illogical contravention to the Second Amendment, but that just will not happen in America.

Robert L. Gabler

Kingwood

A Nice Trap

Dear Editor:

In Mr. Nice’s recent response to my letter to the editor (“I Made No Charge….”), he again falls into the same old trap.

First, he claims only to have asked people to “think” before making their presidential choice. True, but only at the end of an article that was filled with assumptions and statements not supported by facts.

Next, he says it is “apparent” that I am a “lock stepped, mind-set, DNC robot that doesn’t comprehend what he reads as displayed in his response to my letter.” There you go assuming again. Let me assure Mr. Nice that I have no robotic parts and that I am quite capable of thinking for myself without help from the DNC, RNC, Fox “News” or any other source. Please re-read my comments and you will see that nowhere in the letter did I offer support for Ms. Clinton. In fact, I have never voted for Ms. Clinton. I only pointed out Mr. Nice’s use of unsupported assumptions.

He again returns to the deleted email theory that Ms. Clinton removed emails from her account because she “must have thought they contained some incriminating evidence”. Mr. Nice apparently is also a mind reader or he is in possession of evidence unknown to anyone else. As to my mention of two recent Republican email scandals, again, nowhere in my letter did I justify any alleged Clinton action by pointing out similar Republican scandals. I only asked that Mr. Nice apply his logic to those examples when “thinking” about making an election decision in 2016.

Finally, Mr. Nice again wanders off track in his discussion of a sale of a Canadian company to a Russian investor that included some American uranium mining assets. My guess is that he is paraphrasing allegations made by conservative writer Peter Schweizer in his recent book “Clinton Cash.”

To those allegations, Mr. Schweizer has presented no evidence that the donations influenced Clinton’s official actions. During several interviews even he admitted that his allegations were speculative. The fact is, Ms. Clinton was only one of 9 voting members on the Foreign Investments Committee that included the Secretary’s of Defense, Homeland Security, Commerce and Energy, the Attorney General and others. Additional approval was also required of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in order to transfer uranium licenses as part of the sale.

Many of Mr. Schwizer’s unsupported allegations have been widely debunked by numerous investigative news sources including that bastion of ‘liberal’ journalism - Forbes Magazine.

So if Mr. Nice wants to “assume” that all the above-mentioned individuals and organizations entered into some grand conspiracy, go right ahead. If, however, he would like to rail against how the influx of dark corporate and foreign money has corrupted our entire political system following the Citizens United court decision then I would be more than happy to support him 100 percent.

Art Howell

Atascocita

Hop aboard a spaceship

Mary Elizabeth Rumsey (6-17-2015 Letters) says, “... maybe there are other ways to slow down … time.” I can cite one more way. Per A. Einstein, moving clocks tick slower than at-rest clocks, and the faster a clock travels, the slower it ticks compared to the at-rest clock. So Ms. Rumsey, if you want to slow the passage of time, then hop aboard a spaceship and move relative to earth. The faster your spaceship travels relative to earth, the slower your wristwatch will tick relative to those on earth. So said A. Einstein.

Until Einstein arrived, everyone (even Isaac Newton) believed that time is absolute, which is to say that a master clock exists whose ticking keeps the time for everyone, even those who are moving relative to some other body.

Bill Bailey

Kingwood

Disappointed in Creighton

Dear Editor:

The other day, surrounded by the representatives of a huge corporation, Governor Abbott signed a tax cut bill. The bill gives a 25 percent cut in the business tax rate to those businesses which pay the tax, which are the largest 10 percent of Texas businesses. Small businesses get nothing. Also coming is on the November ballot is a proposal to increase the homestead exemption by $10,000, which will give the average Texas homeowner a $127 tax cut. Renters would get nothing. These cuts are those proposed by the Texas State Senate.

The State House of Representatives had a better idea. They proposed a sales tax cut. Everybody pays sales taxes. Rich people, poor people, homeowners, renters and businesses all pay sales taxes. A sales tax cut would benefit everyone.

Our own State Senator Creighton was an outspoken opponent of the sales tax cuts. In doing so, he has identified himself as a member of the group that chooses to pass legislation that rewards their campaign donors, rather than pass legislation that contributes to the common good.

Color me disappointed in Senator Creighton.

Marc Croes

Kingwood

School’s out; be careful!

Dear Editor:

Now that school is out we know to watch out for the children. They are active and everywhere, and for good reason. It is summertime.

No longer do the yellow buses run the roads, as much as they did during the school year. I am taking into account for summer school buses.

The vacationing school children are now roaming, walking, and riding on the streets. It’s easy to spot them during the day, but at night it is a different story.

The other night while driving down the road, I immediately came upon a teen riding a bike. At first I did not see her, but then she suddenly appeared. It scared the heck out of me. She was getting ready to cross the street, at a corner, and while waiting was hanging out into the street.

I’m assuming that she thought that since she had a tiny reflector on the back of her bike that she was safe.

The truth was that she was barely visible, and wearing dark clothes made her even more invisible. The addition of no moon outside amplified the situation.

I would hope that any night bike riders or walkers for that matter, would wear some form of white clothing, and have sufficient reflectors. The situation that was averted could have turned into a nightmare.

“School is out —

With thoughts of safety taking their route.”

Mary Elizabeth Rumsey

Porter

Another World Leader that can see into the future

Dear Editor:

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read the Pope’s statement on climate change and that it ranks up there with the most damaging things to the earth. Can anyone even imagine what the world would be like today if fossil fuel wasn’t used?

Thousands of Jews and Christians are currently being slaughtered in many parts of the world and the Pope thinks global warming is the most important issue he needs to address. There has not been one prediction that has came true by the global warming (or global cooling) wackos as of today. NASA just released a climate study that actually states the earth’s climate has cooled over the past 10 years! They have experts and instruments to back up their findings so I think the Pope needs to monitor his priest’s activities and make corrections as required and leave the climate to the experts.

As for using fossil fuels, I am sure the Pope believes God created heaven and earth. If he does, then he knows that God also put coal, oil and gas in the earth. Maybe the Pope can explain to us why he did this, if not for the use of mankind, why? And while we’re at it, did he travel here by sailboat?